Team PokerStars Pro - Tom McEvoy

Tom McEvoy

One of the most well known names among poker players, Tom McEvoy has written or co-authored twelve books about poker strategy and has won numerous poker tournaments including four *World Series of Poker events and the World Poker Championship. While working as an accountant in his thirties, Mr. McEvoy was fired and turned to one of his favorite pastimes, poker. His first exposure to the game was as a child when his grandma played penny-ante poker with him. Known to play at just about any limit imaginable and in many different variations of poker, Tom McEvoy is truly a deserving member of Team PokerStars Pro.

With 30 World Series of Poker cashes, including the four bracelets, McEvoy is truly one of the most accomplished tournament players on the circuit. In the 2006 World Series of Poker main event, he outlasted over 8,000 entrants to finish 371st. His World Series of Poker bracelets were for the following events.

* 1983 event 10, Limit Texas Holdem
* 1983 event 14, No Limit Texas Holdem (Championship event)
* 1986 event 7, Limit Razz
* 1992 event 7, Limit Omaha

Other recent notable finishes are as follows.

* 2006 Mandalay Bay Poker Championships, 8th, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2006 Seneca World Poker Classic, 7th, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2005 Fall Poker Round Up, 4th, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2005 Canadian Poker Tour, 2nd, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2005 Mirage Poker Showdown, 3rd, Pot Limit Texas Holdem

Team PokerStars Pro - John Duthie

John Duthie

First achieving fame on the poker tournament circle with a win at the televised 2000 Poker Million, John Duthie is no stranger to success. John is the director of the BAFTA award winning show "Clocking Off" as well as primetime UK shows such as "As If" and "Silent Witness". Parlaying his success at the poker tables with the same success in television, in 2004 John launched the European Poker Tour (EPT) in association with PokerStars to form one of the biggest poker tournament circuits in the world. The European Poker Tour is currently broadcast to over 40 countries around the globe and continues to grow in popularity. Mr. Duthie lives with his wife and two sons in London.

Duthie has numerous "in the money" finishes to his credit in mainstream poker tournaments, including two 2006 *World Series of Poker events, a win at the Vienna Spring Poker Festival in 2004, two 2005 World Series of Poker events and many European events. His total winnings to date are over two million, quite a second career for a successful television director.

Team PokerStars Pro - DANIEL NEGREANU

Daniel Negreanu

Born in Toronto, Canada, Daniel Negreanu has become one of the most popular figures to ever grace the poker tables. He moved to Las Vegas at the age of 23, and soon earned a reputation as one of pokers' rising stars, taking down back-to-back titles at the 1997 World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, Connecticut.

Since then, Negreanu - who goes by the name 'Kid Poker' - has won three *World Series of Poker bracelets and two WPT titles, boasting more top three finishes than any other player. He has been named 'Player of the Year' by the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour and Card Player magazine. He has also written over 100 articles for Card Player, and is the author of "Hold'em Wisdom for All Players", and "Daniel Negreanu's Power Hold'em Strategy".

Negreanu can be found playing at PokerStars under the name 'KidPoker'.

Team PokerStars Pro - Isabelle Mercier

Isabelle Mercier

Isabelle "No Mercy" Mercier is fairly new to the ranks of professional poker tournament players, but she isn't new to the world of poker. Holding a law degree in Canada, Isabelle moved to Paris to act as the poker room manager at the famous Aviation Club de France and has been the television commentator for the last three Paris World Poker Tour events. She recently won one of the World Poker Tour's "Ladies Night Out" tournaments and has written professionally about poker.

Her tournament career includes over 20 money finishes, including two in the 2006 *World Series of Poker and three in the 2005 World Series. Below are a few of her most notable finishes.

* 2002 Master Classics of Poker, 2nd, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2005 Euro Finals of Poker, 2nd, Limit Texas Holdem
* 2005 European Poker Tour Grand Final, 1st, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2005 Paris Open of Poker, 2nd, No Limit Texas Holdem
* 2006 World Series of Poker event 9, 5th, No Limit Texas Holdem

Team PokerStars Pro - Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein

Barry Greenstein, a Chicago native, is a living legend of the poker world, and he has been playing the game since his childhood days. Like a fine wine, Greenstein’s poker playing just keeps improving. In the 2006 *WSOP he placed 13th in the main Pot Limit Omaha event, winning $20,492, and he also placed 12th in the H.O.R.S.E event winning $205,920.

As of August 2006, Greenstein ranks 18th in the all-time tournament money winner’s lists, placing him ahead of even the legendary Doyle Brunson. His wins aren’t a result of just one or 2 big wins but instead are the result of a phenomenal amount of big cashes throughout a long poker career. Perhaps his most notable wins include winning the Larry Flynt Seven Card Stud Poker Challenge Cup with a 1st prize of $1 million dollars in 2003 and winning the $10K main event of the WPT Jack Binion World Poker Open for a whopping $1,278,370.

Barry Greenstein is more than just a poker ‘great’; he is also a well-known supporter of multiple charities. For years Greenstein has given all his tournament prize money to charity. Barry is not about to go broke though; he is also one of the greatest cash game players of our time.

Like most great poker players, Barry is intelligent and well-versed in probabilities. He studied for a PHD in Mathematics, and he has a BSC in Computers. Barry was also a key employee of Symantec (the company behind Norton Anti-Virus) in the mid 1980’s when it was just a start-up company. While this time might have gotten in the way of his poker playign, it no doubt gave him the satisfaction of being an important contributor to the success of a now world renowned company.

Barry values knowledge for its own sake. He speaks Vietnamese, which he learned from his close friend Mimi Tran. Tran might have gotten the better end of the deal though, because Barry taught her to play poker in exchange. Tran is now considered one of the best female players in the game.

Barry also wrote one of the top selling poker books of 2005, Ace On The River. The book, unlike most how-to poker books, provides insight into the game from one of its great players.

Barry Greenstein’s skills and attributes are seemingly endless. If poker ever sent an ambassador to the U.N. then Barry Greenstein would surely be the obvious choice.

Team PokerStars Pro - Joe Hachem

Joe Hachem

Born in Lebanon, Hachem moved to Australia in the early 1970s where he worked as a chiropractor and mortgage broker. He shocked the poker world by beating a record-breaking 5618-player field in the 2005 *World Series of Poker.

Hachem has been playing on PokerStars since 2002 and made the decision to play in the WSOP only after his friend won a seat on PokerStars. Hachem becomes the third straight WSOP champion to call PokerStars his home. Look for the 2005 world champion at the world's biggest tournaments and here at the tables on PokerStars.

Team PokerStars Pro - Greg Raymer

Greg Raymer

Greg Raymer turned a life as a poker playing patent attorney into a career as one of the game's greatest ambassadors. After winning a *WSOP qualifier on PokerStars, Raymer parlayed his win into a 2004 world championship. The following year, Raymer again went deep in the World Series Main event, making it to the final three tables. In 2007, Raymer decided he needed a bracelet for each wrist and won Event #6 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Known worldwide as Fossilman, Raymer continues to circle the globe playing in the biggest tournaments he can find.

Team PokerStars Pro - Chris Moneymaker

Chris Moneymaker

One of the main players, if not the main player, responsible for the explosion of poker in the last few years, Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 *World Series of Poker main event after qualifying in a satellite tournament on PokerStars. Working as an accountant in Tennessee, Mr. Moneymaker made millions of everyday poker player's thoughts of making it big seem a little more realistic with his amazing performance at the televised final event. If he can turn a small satellite win into the fame and millions that come with being a World Series champion, then anyone has a chance. Congratulations to Chris, and you can watch him at just about any of the largest poker tournaments around the world.

Moneymaker followed up his World Series of Poker championship with a second place finish in the 2004 World Poker Tour Shooting Star tournament. He has also finished in the money in two World Series of Poker events since then as well as the 2004 Mid America Poker Classic and the 2004 Aruba Poker Classic.

Chris is also the personality behind the PokerStars Moneymaker Millionaire tournament, with 2.5 Million in cash and prizes. The finals will be held at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas in late 2006.

Moneymaker has also recently started his own company, and continues to represent Team PokerStars Pro around the world.

Prohibited Online Poker Software FAQ

What is this all about?

With the explosion in online poker, people have developed programs to help them play better online. We think it is okay for players to use some of those programs. However, some of those programs go beyond what we consider acceptable as an aid in playing online.

There is a range of things that a player can do to improve his chances in a poker game. For instance, he can play a lot and gain experience, or he can read a book about poker. Both of these techniques are clearly appropriate. At the other end of the spectrum, he can work in collusion with another player, sharing information about hole cards and teaming up against other players. This is clearly cheating.

In between those two extremes are many programs - some of which we consider to be too close to cheating. For example, there are people building huge databases with profiles of every player on PokerStars, and they are selling access to these databases. A player with access to such a database can call up detailed information about every one of his opponents without ever playing against those opponents himself. We believe this gives that player an unfair advantage against others at his table.

Obviously, reasonable people will disagree over what is appropriate and what is not. We have developed what we consider to be a reasonable compromise between letting players take every possible fair advantage, but prohibiting the unfair ones.
Why did this all get started?

We have gotten emails on this subject from many players. Some want to use these "aid" programs and are asking if they're okay. Other players are concerned that their opponents are using aid programs. We needed to establish a policy so we could draw a line between acceptable and unacceptable programs. We made this decision only after thorough discussion within PokerStars and with poker experts outside PokerStars.
In general, what kind of programs are acceptable?

1. Programs (or charts) that simply tell you odds, starting hand recommendations, etc.
2. Programs that profile your opponents, but make use of only information which you have accumulated by your own play.

Why is this an issue?

Consider this: you are playing at a six-person table and the other five players at that table are using a shared database program. After each hand, they are able to see what cards every other player (except you) had. Do you want to play at that table?
Can you give me a list of acceptable programs?

This is a list of programs that we are aware of and permit:

1. Calculatem Pro
2. Coach Rounder
3. Draw Poker Source
4. GameTime+
5. Holdem Genius
6. Holdem Indicator
7. Holdem Manager
8. Holdem Partner
9. Insight Poker Hound
10. Omaha Poker Coach
11. Paragon Poker Pal
12. Poker Academy Prospector
13. PokerAce HUD
14. Pokerbility
15. Poker Buddy
16. Poker Indicator
17. Poker Office
18. Poker Sharpener
19. Poker Sidekick
20. Poker-Spy.com
21. PokerStat.com
22. Poker Tracker v2
23. Poker Vitals
24. Poker Weapon
25. Poker Wingman
26. Sit and Go End Game Tools
27. Sixth Sense
28. SmartBuddy
29. SnG Power Tools
30. Spade ICM
31. STT Analyzer
32. Stud Inspector v1
33. Telescope by SpadeIt
34. Texas Calculatem
35. ThePokerDB
36. Tournament Indicator

This list was last updated September 1, 2007.
In general, what kinds of programs are prohibited?

1. Any program that shares hole card data with other players or programs is colluding, and is prohibited.
2. Any program that works off of a central database of player profiles is prohibited.
3. Any program that plays without human intervention (a "bot") or reduces the requirement of a human playing. For instance, an "auto-folder" is prohibited.

Can you give me a list of programs which are prohibited?

This is a list of programs that we are aware of and prohibit:

1. Advanced Poker Calculator
2. Gambot
3. Holdem Hawk
4. Holdem Pirate
5. Holdem Inspector a.k.a. Online Holdem Inspector
6. Magic Holdem
7. Mandraker
8. Poker Android
9. Poker Bot+
10. Poker Edge
11. Poker Inspector a.k.a. Online Poker Inspector
12. Poker Prophecy
13. Poker Sherlock
14. Poker Table Manager
15. SharkScope [pending]
16. Sit n' Go Brain
17. SpadeEye
18. Stars Hand History (SHH)
19. StarSpy
20. TheCashDB
21. WinHoldem

This list was last updated September 1, 2007.
There's a program I'd like to use, but it's not on either list. Now what?

Please send an email to support@pokerstars.net with all the information you have about that program. Please include a URL to a website about that program if at all possible. We will review the program and let you know if it's permitted or not.
May I use a permitted program to record information about players from hands in which I am not playing?

No. You may only collect hand histories and player information from hands in which you are a participant.
What steps are you going to take to prevent players from using prohibited programs?

We are going to look to see if any of those programs is running on a player's computer. If we find one of the prohibited programs, we will alert the player that he is running a prohibited program and tell him what the program is. We will ask that he stop running the program immediately. If he complies, fine. If not, then we will prevent the PokerStars client from running on his computer.
Are you going to look for anything else on players' computers?

Absolutely not. Our sole interest is in protecting our players and our site from programs that we believe are bad for the integrity and fairness of our games.
Are you going to confiscate the account funds of somebody running a prohibited program?

While we reserve the right to confiscate the funds of somebody running a prohibited program, we are not going to do this lightly. We want to educate our players - not punish them. However, we will confiscate funds if a player shows a consistent pattern of using prohibited programs after being warned.

Free 2-7 Triple Draw Poker Games

2-7 triple draw makes for an interesting variation. In this poker game, the best hand is the worst hand. It differs also from other low games – aces are high and straights and flushes count against a player’s low hand. So what you need is the lowest possible hand. It’s a form of draw poker and the difference, as the name suggests, is that you have the chance to draw cards three times instead of once.

With that in mind the simplest way to determine who has the worst hand at showdown is to start with a player’s worst card (their highest ranking card) and work backwards. If one player holds 9,8,6,3,2 and anther has 9,8,6,4,2 and both have no possible flushes, the first of these two hands would be declared the winner (as the 3 is lower than the 4).

As for the best possible hand in triple draw that would be 7,5,4,3,2 avoiding a flush (notice it also misses the straight). If each player involved in a showdown has a pair (this is rare) then the player with the lowest pair would win the hand. It’s also worth noting that A,2,3,4,5 is not a straight as the ace is high. It’s not a strong hand but will beat an opponent with a pair or a straight on the last draw.

Like all draw games, 2-7 is played with blinds which are posted by the player on the left of the dealer (known as the small blind), and the player second-left from the dealer (the big blind). Once this is done each player is dealt five cards face down. Unlike many other poker games, each player can see his – and only his – cards. There are no community cards.

In the first round of betting, the player sitting to the left of the big blind has the option to fold, call or raise. Each player has the same options and the action continues until the blinds have acted (these players also have the option to raise, even if there is no raise in front of them as their blinds, or bets, are ‘live’).

After this first round of betting there is a draw. Each player selects which cards he wishes to discard (if any) by clicking on them. He can discard all the cards if he wishes. Clicking once chooses that card to be discarded, clicking twice cancels this decision. Discarded cards are then replaced by new cards appearing in your hand.

This continues for each player in a clockwise direction around the table. When it is your turn you press the button which confirms you wish to discard the cards selected. Choosing to ‘stand pat’ means you are happy with the five cards you have been dealt and do not wish to change any.

Now it’s time for the second round of betting. The first player to the left of the dealer who has not yet folded is the first to act and the action continues in this fashion, until the betting is over for that round.

With betting done those players still active draw cards for a second time, following the same procedure. A third round of betting now occurs, the player to the left of the dealer still active in the hand being first to act. Then comes the third and final draw and another round of betting.

Now comes the showdown. The player with the best five card 2-7 low hand after the final round of betting is awarded the pot. If two players have the same winning hand then the pot is split evenly between them (note that suits make no difference in this case).